Meet The Coach: CMR golf coach Brian Halverson

This is his 8th year as C.M. Russell High's golf coach, but he has been a coach in several sports prior. He is a GFH graduate.

Q: Where did you go to school?

A: Bozeman. I was a Pre-Med major and then as I was finishing that up, I kind of really dug Political Science. So I ended up getting a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and minors in Biology and Chemistry. That's what I ended up doing … And I was lucky enough to get a Madison Fellowship … so they paid for my Master's degree and I did most of my work over here at UGF, but some of it out American University in (Washington) D.C. And then I got a second Master's degree through the University of Montana.

A: I'm playing with them? So three others? Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson … Can it be like non-golfers? OK … Gandhi, Michael Jordan and Jack Nicklaus. It's either that or Mikhail Gorbachev, but I think Gandhi.

Q: What's your favorite memory on a golf course?

A: (Long pause) Boy, there's some shots I've hit. I've never had a hole-in-one, by the way. And I've golfed for years, and I am a reasonably good golfer … But I don't think … It's not the shots; I would say the girls state championship (Fall 2008) … just the way the whole thing set up. It was at Green Meadow (Country Club in Helena) … Everything was just nip and tuck, and they went out on the turn, and I didn't really want to know where they were at, but I had a sense of where they were at, and I was very nervous. And Bill Sandaker, who's one of the most loyal CMR alums and he does all of these rugs, he sells the rugs. He shows up at the golf course halfway through this round, and I'm not really superstitious, but I'm like – because he's there with the rug; he already has a rug that says we're state champs – and I'm like … I don't know if I'm angry but I'm avoiding him … I'm like, Bill, I can't even … So it was just the weirdest thing, just the way the round ended … We ended up closing and winning it. I just think that as a golf coach and that day on the golf course was one that is just burned into my memory. Just really strong emotions.

Q:Why golf?

A:I don't know. I just love the game. I love the cerebral qualities of it. Everybody wonders if golf is a sport, are golfers really athletes and stuff. Anybody who has played the game knows that's a silly sort of dialogue. It just takes so much to chase this white ball around and actually sort of be successful at it … You think about what we're doing out here, it's a little bit crazy. At the same time it's wonderful. It's wonderful insanity.